1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an electronic mail apparatus for sending an electronic mail created with character codes in text format and a computer readable record medium on which is recorded an electronic mail program, and more particularly to an electronic mail apparatus for sending an electronic having binary format files attached to a text format mail document and a computer readable record medium on which is recorded the electronic mail program.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional electronic mail apparatus, a text of an electronic mail is described with character codes in text format, and binary format file data such as diagrams and images incapable of being represented in the text format are intended to be attached to the mail text without changing the file format and without incorporating into the mail text for sending. In the case of attaching files to the mail text in this manner, typically a description indicative of attachment of files is made in the mail text after which the files are attached thereto for sending.
In the electronic mail sending operation, however, the sender may often forget to perform a file attachment operation at the stage of the sending operation after the completion of a document in spite of the initial intention to attach files later in the process of describing the mail text. In order to obviate this problem of forgetting to attach files, it is conceived to fixedly impart to the operator a message urging the sender to verify the attached files upon the sending. In the method of fixedly issuing the verifying message, however, a verifying message is always issued irrespective of the presence or absence of the attached files, which will be an eyesore to the operator. For this reason, the sender may habitually stop or ignore the message function, with the result that the sender may often forget to perform the file attachment operation.
In case the sender has forgotten to attach files in an electronic mail in this manner, the receiver side is actually incapable of receiving the files in spite of the indication of the attachment of files in the mail text. As a result, the receiver has to contact the sender side to troublesomely ask the sender to resend the electronic mail with attached files. A smooth exchange of the electronic mail is thus impaired. Furthermore, if the sender is unaware of the forgetting to attach files with his/her misunderstanding of having attached files, the business utilizing the electronic mails may be delayed to adversely affect the execution of the business. Furthermore, even though the file attaching operation has been performed upon the sending, the number of files to be attached may be short or different files may be erroneously attached. In these cases also, a smooth exchange of electronic mails is impaired, resulting in a significant trouble in the business.
According to the present invention, there are provided an electronic mail apparatus and an electronic mail processing method capable of previously preventing in the case of sending an electronic mail with files the forgetting to attach files, a lack of files to be attached, a difference in the content of files to be attached and ensuring smooth and secure exchange of electronic mails, as well as a computer readable record medium on which an electronic mail program is recorded.
In the electronic mail apparatus of the present invention, a mail creating unit creates an electronic mail which has a mail control statement and a mail text described in text format and if necessary has files attached thereto and incapable of being represented in the text format, and a mail sending unit sends an electronic mail created by the mail creating unit. The present invention is characterized in that for such an electronic mail apparatus, an attached file verifying unit is provided which, previous to the sending of an electronic mail, retrieves the mail text to retrieve the presence or absence of attachment representations indicative of the existence of attached files and which, if the attachment representations have been retrieved, issues for display a warning message urging the sender to verify the forgetting to attach files. According to the present invention, a check is made to see if the mail text contains an attachment representation indicative of the presence of the attached files, and if absent, the sender is urged to verify the forget-to-attach so that the sender can judge whether the file attaching operation is needed or not upon the sending. If needed the attachment can be effected, whereas if unneeded the sending can be effected with disregard, whereby it is possible to perform smooth electronic mail sending processing which appropriately reflects the content of the mail and the sender""s will in accordance with the situations.
In this case, the attached file verifying unit performs the forget-to-attach verification processing when an electronic mail sending button is clicked. The attached file verifying unit includes a dictionary registering unit for previously registering attachment representations existing in the mail text into a dictionary; an attached file judging unit which, previous to the sending of an electronic mail, judges the presence or absence of the attached files; an attachment representation retrieving unit which, when the attached file judging unit has judged no attached files, retrieves a character string in the mail text coincident with the attachment representations registered into the dictionary; and a warning message output unit which, when the attachment representation retrieving unit has retrieved the attachment representations, creates for display a message urging the sender to verify the forgetting to attach files. The attached file judging unit judges the presence or absence of attached files on the basis of boundary information associated with the mail text and the attached files of the electronic mail. More specifically, the attached file judging unit detects the number B of boundaries on the basis of boundary information associated with the mail text and attached files and judges the presence of attached files if a value obtained by subtracting 2 from the number B of boundaries is equal to or larger than 1. For example, in cases where the number B of files is three, the number F of boundaries results in 5 which is larger than it by 2.
The number B of files=the number F of boundariesxe2x88x922=5xe2x88x922=3 which is larger than 1, making it possible to judge the presence of any attached files.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the attached file verifying unit includes a dictionary registering unit for previously registering into a dictionary both attachment representations in the mail text indicative of the existence of the attached files and number of attached files representations in the mail text indicative of the number of attached files; an attachment representation retrieving unit which retrieves character strings in the mail text coincident with attachment representations and number of attached files representations registered in the dictionary and which retrieves character strings indicative of attached file names; a number of attached files verifying unit which, when the presence of attached files has been judged from the result of retrieval of the attachment representation retrieving unit, compares the estimated number of attached files based on the number of attached files representations in the mail text with the actual number of attached files existing in the electronic mail and which, if the actual number of attached files is less than the estimated number of attached files, creates a warning message indicative of a lack of attached files; and a warning message output unit for issuing for display the warning message created by the number of attached files verifying unit. Thus, in addition to the forgetting to attach files, a lack of attached files when the files have been attached can be judged to urge the sender to verify it. In this case, the attached file verifying unit performs verification processing of the number of attached files when an electronic mail sending button is clicked. The attached file verifying unit includes a dictionary registering unit for previously registering into a dictionary both attachment representations in the mail text indicative of the existence of the attached files and number of attached files representations in the mail text indicative of the number of attached files; an attachment representation retrieving unit which retrieves character strings in the mail text coincident with attachment representations and number of attached files representations registered in the dictionary and which retrieves character strings indicative of attached file names; an attached content verifying unit which, when an attached file name has been retrieved by the attachment representation retrieving unit, compares the file name with a file name in attached files and which, if the two are not coincident with each other, creates a warning message indicative of attachment of an erroneous file; and a warning message output unit for issuing for display the warning message created by the attached content verifying unit. Thus, in addition to the forgetting to attach files, attachment of erroneous files when files have been attached can be judged to urge the sender to verify it. In this case as well,the attached file verifying unit performs verification processing of attached file names when an electronic mail sending button is clicked. The number of attached files verifying unit judges the actual number of attached files on the basis of each boundary information associated with the mail text and attached files of the electronic mail. More specifically, the number of attached files judging unit detects the number B of boundaries on the basis of boundary information associated with the mail text and attached files and defines as the actual number F of attached files a value obtained by subtracting 2 from the detected number B of boundaries. The attachment representation registering unit registers as the attachment representations character strings representing xe2x80x9cattachedxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cattachmentxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cenclosurexe2x80x9d, etc., in a language used in the mail text into the dictionary. It further registers as the number of attached files representations sets of character strings representing the number of attached files such as xe2x80x9ca filexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cfilesxe2x80x9d, etc., and values of the number of attached files. That is, registered are for instance a set xe2x80x9ca file, 1xe2x80x9d of a character string xe2x80x9ca filexe2x80x9d and the number of attached files xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d, a set xe2x80x9cfiles, *xe2x80x9d of a character string xe2x80x9cfilesxe2x80x9d and the value xe2x80x9c*xe2x80x9d of the number of attached files. Besides, xe2x80x9c*xe2x80x9d denotes an arbitrary integer equal to or larger than 2.
The present invention further provides a computer readable record medium on which is recorded an electronic mail program comprising a mail creating unit for creating an electronic mail which has a mail control statement and a mail text described in text format and if necessary has files attached thereto and incapable of being represented in the text format; a mail sending unit for sending an electronic mail created by the mail creating unit; and an attached file verifying unit which, previous to the sending of an electronic mail, retrieves the mail text to retrieve the presence or absence of attachment representations indicative of the existence of attached files and which, if the attachment representations have been retrieved, issues for display a warning message urging the sender to verify the forgetting to attach files. In this case, the attached file verifying unit includes a dictionary registering unit for previously registering attachment representations existing in the mail text into a dictionary; an attached file judging unit which, previous to the sending of an electronic mail, judges the presence or absence of the attached files; an attachment representation retrieving unit which, when the attached file judging unit has judged no attached files, retrieves a character string in the mail text coincident with the attachment representations registered into the dictionary; and a warning message output unit which, when the attachment representation retrieving unit has retrieved the attachment representations, creates for display a message urging the sender to verify the forgetting to attach files. The attached file verifying unit includes a dictionary registering unit for previously registering into a dictionary both attachment representations in the mail text indicative of the existence of the attached files and number of attached files representations in the mail text indicative of the number of attached files; an attachment representation retrieving unit which retrieves character strings in the mail text coincident with attachment representations and number of attached files representations registered in the dictionary and which retrieves character strings indicative of attached file names; a number of attached files verifying unit which, when the presence of attached files has been judged from the result of retrieval of the attachment representation retrieving unit, compares the estimated number of attached files based on the number of attached files representations in the mail text with the actual number of attached files existing in the electronic mail and which, if the actual number of attached files is less than the estimated number of attached files, creates a warning message indicative of a lack of attached files; and a warning message output unit for issuing for display the warning message created by the number of attached files verifying unit. Furthermore, the attached file verifying unit includes a dictionary registering unit for previously registering into a dictionary both attachment representations in the mail text indicative of the existence of the attached files and number of attached files representations in the mail text indicative of the number of attached files; an attachment representation retrieving unit which retrieves character strings in the mail text coincident with attachment representations and number of attached files representations registered in the dictionary and which retrieves character strings indicative of attached file names; an attached content verifying unit which, when an attached file name has been retrieved by the attachment representation retrieving unit, compares the file name with a file name in attached files and which, if the two are not coincident with each other, creates a warning message indicative of attachment of an erroneous file; and a warning message output unit for issuing for display the warning message created by the attached content verifying unit. The details of the other aspects than these are basically the same as the electronic mail apparatus.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.